Article Synopsis
- Synthetic systems struggle to replicate the advanced color-changing abilities found in cephalopods and similar animals.
- Soft machines made from flexible materials are evolving quickly and gaining new features.
- The study details microfluidic networks that allow these machines to change color, pattern, and temperature for purposes like camouflage, and they can do so in visible and infrared light, surpassing natural organisms’ capabilities.
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Article Abstract
Synthetic systems cannot easily mimic the color-changing abilities of animals such as cephalopods. Soft machines--machines fabricated from soft polymers and flexible reinforcing sheets--are rapidly increasing in functionality. This manuscript describes simple microfluidic networks that can change the color, contrast, pattern, apparent shape, luminescence, and surface temperature of soft machines for camouflage and display. The color of these microfluidic networks can be changed simultaneously in the visible and infrared--a capability that organisms do not have. These strategies begin to imitate the functions, although not the anatomies, of color-changing animals.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1222149 | DOI Listing |
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